As various theories swirled around the mysterious deaths of 11 members of a family in Burari, the family members have rejected them as "false and baseless".
The family has claimed that there was no truth to any of such speculated theories and that the media was just trying to "taint their image".
The eldest daughter-in-law of the family told NDTV that they are being "portrayed as a religious family involved in black magic".
"If there was anything of this sort, I would have known it since I am the eldest daughter-in-law of the family. These are rumours. Everyone is connecting everything with 11 be it 11 pipes or 11 windows. All these are false. It is wrong," said Kamlesh, who has been living in Rajasthan with her family for 20 years.
Eleven pipes protruding out of a wall of the house fuelled rumours surround the deaths.
She said, "Instead of supporting the family, people are encouraging such rumours. I was here on June 11."
According to Kamlesh, she had attended the engagement ceremony of Priyanka, one of the deceased and left on June 19. Kamlesh said everything was fine then.
Kamlesh's son Prashant too denied such rumours.
"As a family member, I would reject these rumours because we do not have any reason to believe it. We have been living here for long. We have never got a sign of any such activity," Prashant said.
Ten of the 11 members of the Bhatia family were found hanging from an iron mesh in the ceiling on July 1, while the body of 77-year-old Narayan Devi, the head of the family, was lying on the floor in another room of the house.
Devi's daughter Pratibha (57), her two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit Bhatia (45) were also among the deceased. Bhavnesh's wife Savita (48) and their three children-ages 15 too were found dead.
Lalit Bhatia's wife Tina (42) and their 15-year-old son Shivam were also among those found dead. Pratibha's daughter Priyanka (33), who was engaged last month and would have married by the end of this year, was also found hanging. Locals said Meenu was preparing for entrance exams and Nidhi was pursuing her Masters.
(PTI)
